Details

DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). A collection of 13 of his works in 14 volumes, 19th-century editions, all published in London, and all by John Murray, excepting the first two named works: The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Smith, Elder and Co., 1842. FIRST EDITION. Freeman 271. -- Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands. Smith, Elder and Co., 1844. FIRST EDITION. Freeman 272. -- The Expression of the Emotions of Man and Animals. 1872. FIRST EDITION, second issue, plates numbered in Arabic. (Lacking the last two leaves of integral advertisements.) Freeman 1142. -- The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication ... Second edition, revised, fourth thousand. 1875. 2 volumes. Freeman 880. -- Insectivorous Plants ... third thousand. 1875. Half-title, errata slip. Freeman 1219. -- The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants ... second thousand. 1876. Half-title. Reprint of the second edition. Freeman 837. -- The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom. FIRST EDITION. 1876. Errata leaf. Freeman 1249. -- The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects ... Second edition, revised. 1877. Half-title. Freeman 801. -- The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species. 1877. FIRST EDITION. Freeman 1277. -- The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex ... Second edition (thirteenth thousand), revised and augmented. London: 1879. Half-title. Freeman 951. -- The Power of Movement in Plants. 1880. Half-title. FIRST EDITION. Freeman 1325. -- The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection ... Sixth edition, with additions and corrections to 1872 (twenty-second thousand). 1880. Half-title. Freeman 405. -- The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the action of Worms ... Third thousand. 1881. Errata slip. Freeman 1359. 13 volumes, 8° (first two named works 215 x 133mm; the remainder 184 x 125mm excepting Descent of Man 184 x 115mm). Uniformly bound in late 19th-century dark-green half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, gilt spines, lettered in second and third compartments, marbled endpapers, marbled edges (extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance: Nevil and Thereza Story Maskelyne (Basset Down House circular armorial bookplate).

RARE SET OF DARWIN'S WORKS FORMED BY CORRESPONDENTS OF DARWIN. The prominent mineralogist Nevil Story Maskelyne (1823-1911) and his wife and photographic pioneer Thereza (1834-1926), corresponded with Darwin on several occasions, e.g.: 3 December 1871 Nevil requested copies of Darwin's botanical works for Thereza (Dar. Corr. 8091); 4 May 1874 Thereza sent Darwin details of her primrose-eating canary (Dar. Corr. 9426). No collected edition of Darwin was published in his lifetime; indeed, this was only issued in 1990, and collected sets formed in the 19th-century, such as the present lot, are rare. (14)